Mumsnet Talk

[Florence & The Machine Inspirational Music Intro]

Pearl Barley

[Shots of young people doing parkour on walls with graffiti]

Right I have 375 g of pearl barley left in my 500g bag and unless I get some VERY EXCITING and dramatic ideas of what the chuff to do with it the dds will be clearing it out from the top back shelf in 40 years time when I have snuffed it.

NO SOUP

Thank you

rofl.

Risotto?

Lamb casserole

<<base-jumps into conversation>>

I second risotto - but keep it cooking for a long time.

Or, there is some mongolian recipe where you cook it with mushrooms and make a sort of cake out of it.

<<double-back-flips out of thread>>

What did you do with the other 125g?

I think I would use it for a rain stick or similar craft activity.

<anoraky voice> Lamb shanks.

Not exciting, but delicious.

Pearl barley is delicious whatever you do with it. No need for fancy parkour. It is down wiv da yoof intrinsically.

Chaotic get back here. A cake with mushrooms? Que?

alarka I did a thing with chicken and tarragon it was quite nice.

Oh and RAINMAKER??? I am 35 years old, with both children in school and do not need to making soothing rain noises to entertain myself.

I want to EAT IT.

yy ok risotto stuff could work

<brightens>

Is it really down wiv da yoof? With lamb shanks? I do like lamb shanks. What just shove it in the casserole with all the rest of it?

It is certainly down wiv my yoofs. I love it heartily. It is so comfy on the mouth.

<Steezy stompin in>

I put a handful in pretty much every slow cooking low temp casserole I make - lamb shanks, beef, chicken, pretty much anything and everything - the longer you cook it the more moisture it absorbs and the bigger it gets. Dull but true.

<Aciddrop out>

Doesn't it cure cistitis too?

This is not dull.

I think I am having a carbohydrate epiphany. I am so bored with rice and pasta and spuds.

I can just chuck a handful of pearl barley in. It is trendy and comfy on the mouth.

Does it?

Cor

Medicinal properties too.

Yes! Googled and apparently is good for cystitis too - who knew? (well apart from Eleison?!)

PMSL at parkour and rainstick and aciddrop

I fucking love you lot

And to get you started some recipes (incidentally for pretty much everything we've all said) are here

I would chuck it on the basis that dh is a coeliac (gluten free) and I wouldn't want to accidentally cook it in a meal for him.

Congratulations on this most interesting and informative thread btw.

I almost started one some sort of seeds that I bought, I used half in some cookies but no one liked them (I ate them though as they were healthy)

I daren't start my own thread as someone is bound to accuse me of starting a thread about a thread.

Excellent dinosaurs. Thank you. Rabbit one looks good.

So do you measure yours out or is your handful a casual handful?

Definitely a generous casual handful - 2 if it needs thickening/too much liquid in the pot.

And they absorb liquid quickly so keep an eye on it!

It would have been really nice in the lamb stew I've just eaten.

I second, or third? lamb casserole.

Bung it in with beef stew. DELICIOUS.

It thickens it a lot though, so use plenty of port stock

It's horrible, if I eat stuff with pearl barley in it just feels like padding – like stuff you have to wade through to get to a nice bit of meat IYSWIM.

Soup with it in is indeed the worst offender. Bleuch.

I would use it to make bean bag animal of some kind.

(Which will be fine until someone spills ribena on it and it starts to germinate)

Just remembered that I've used it in spag bol, slow cooked all day on the hob, when I didn't have quite enough spaghetti. It has a similar texture to fat pasta cooked too long but with far better taste to it.

It is horrible if you use too much though and it absorbs all of the liquid - you'll need to practice - less is more probably.